Since his postdoctoral days at MIT, Hang Yu, associate professor of materials science and engineering, has been wrestling with the challenge of creating a shape-memory ceramic that can be manufactured ...

Researchers in the US have developed a novel 3D-printed smart composite that enables brittle ceramics to bend, absorb energy, and withstand heavy mechanical loads, while being manufactured at full ...

A German research team has prototyped an extraordinary heating/cooling system that stresses and unloads nickel-titanium "muscle wires" to create heated and cooled air at twice the efficiency of a heat ...

Shape-memory metals, which can revert from one shape to a different one simply by being warmed or otherwise triggered, have been useful in a variety of applications, as actuators that can control the ...

Engineers at Saarland University have taken a leaf out of nature's book by equipping an artificial hand with muscles made from shape-memory wire. The new technology enables the fabrication of flexible ...

Shape memory alloys are very versatile and therefore can be applied in multiple industries, most notably the automotive, aerospace, biomedical, and robotics sectors. This is because the material is ...

Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. A metal that can move on its own will play a key role in NASA’s next voyage to Mars A metal that can move on its ...

In the world of commercial materials, lighter and cheaper is usually better, especially when those attributes are coupled with superior strength and special properties, such as a material's ability to ...

Scientists captured live action details of the phase transitions of shape memory alloys, giving them a better idea how to improve their properties for applications. Known to many as muscle wire or ...

A good tire means a lot when the nearest roadside assistance is 34 million miles (55 million kilometers) away. For future rovers that will explore the surface of Mars, NASA scientists have created a ...